§ 16.52.430. Windham House (The Lord Mayor's Inn).

Pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 2.63 and with the recommendation of the Planning Commission, the City Council designates the following building as an historical landmark in the City: Windham House (The Lord Mayor's Inn).

A.

Location, description and reasons for designation.

Located at 435 Cedar Avenue, Windham House is a four-thousand square foot (4,000'), two-story, wood frame home located on two (2) City lots in downtown Long Beach, California, three (3) blocks from Long Beach City Hall and the Civic Center. It is a California Craftsman-style home designed in 1906 by George L. Hoodenpyl, a trained architect and prominent Southern California Attorney who later served as City Attorney of Long Beach.

Windham House is a massive, square-shaped structure of deceptively unsymmetrical design, built upon a stone foundation which is carried upward in three (3) massive stone columns with square capitals.

The capitals support that portion of the second story over the recessed porch in the center and right side of the front. Siding material is wood board and wood shingle. A pyramidal roof caps the home. A hipped roof covers a small dormer sheltering an attic vent. Below this is a projecting triangular pediment with brackets which imitate rafters. The main roof overhang is supported by brackets, the eaves are essentially boxed, with dentil detail. Fenestration is unremarkable, but the first floor windows on the left are set in a slightly curved frame which hints of a bay window. The lower portion of the second story is slightly bellcast with rounded dentil details.

The building is associated with Charles H. Windham, who was Mayor of Long Beach in 1911. This home was built by him for his own use.

This is an excellent example of a California Craftsman house, in a formal and monumental house. It is broad and massive, with a rough-hewn stone foundation. The same stone is used for the living room fireplace. It is covered in wood siding and wood shingles, with prominent structural framing and projecting rafters. The symmetrical central entryway creates a more formal appearance. This is a fully restored, high quality example of a vernacular Southern California housing type typical of the period 1900-1914.

The granite porch, foundations and granite fireplace are unusual materials for the City of Long Beach, and represent a significant innovation in this building.

This home was part of the original City residential district, and constituted one of a number of large private residences built in the early 1900's close to the downtown business and civic center of the City. It remains intact and well preserved, and is an excellent example of an historic mansion in the City.

The large front door opens to a three hundred square foot (300') foyer graced by a white oak staircase leading to the upstairs rooms. To the immediate left upon entrance is a formal living room with original log burning fireplace. The living room is separated from the formal dining room by two (2) large oak pocket doors. To the immediate right upon entrance is a reception room also separated from the foyer by two (2) large pocket doors and originally used as a music room; and the outer door off the foyer leads to a library. The original bookcase is missing but the evidence of its existence can be seen on the hardwood floor behind the present bookcase. Upstairs, there is a large landing area with access to the sunporch. Mayor Windham occupied the bedroom upstairs on the southeast corner. The original fireplace faced with yellow brick has been restored. A long window seat running the length of the room has been removed at some point in time. A similar window seat had been in the bedroom on the southwest corner. That bedroom was occupied by the youngest daughter, Margarita, and today the room is named in her honor. The other bedrooms were for the other Windham children. They are typical bedrooms of that particular period, having substantial closets and grouped windows. The northeast bedroom includes two (2) casement windows in the east grouping.

B.

General guidelines and standards for any changes. The "Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings" prepared by the Secretary of the Interior (Revised, 1983), as amended, are incorporated by reference, and the following additional guidelines and standards as recommended by the Cultural Heritage Commission are adopted:

The building's exterior shall be regulated by the provisions of this Section. There shall be no restrictions on the building's interior.

Any alterations, modifications or repair of the building's exterior shall be consistent with its historic character.

No exterior changes, including repainting, shall be permitted unless a Certificate of Appropriateness has been applied for and approved by the Cultural Heritage Commission.

(Ord. C-6666 § 1, 1989)